This video is remarkable. I don't think I've ever had that much lack of inhibition in public to just let it all hang out. I'm talking both about the elderly woman, who is phenomenal, and the kids you see in the lower left for a couple seconds. There's a lot to love in this one.

So I started watching this reality TV show called The Ultimate Fighter. 16 mean beat the living crap out of each other for 6 weeks in the hopes of getting a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Now having seen some of these fights I had some assumptions about these men. Seeing rather large men use kicks, punches, elbows, chokes, and body slams to pound each other into submission I would ask myself, why do they do this? What's their motivation? Do they like it? So I watched the whole season of this show and am going to watch the finale tonight. I'm glad to say that nothing I thought about these men was true.

If you'd like to see a UFC fight just go to YouTube and search ultimate fighting--maybe Quinton Rampage Jackson, Forrest (I can't remember his last name), or even Kimbo Slice. These episodes are not for the faint of heart however. Quinton Jackson is known for a particularly brutal knockout where he lifted the man above his head and slammed him on the ground, pretty much instantly knocking him out. Kimbo was a backyard bare knuckle champion who's just recently made the jump to primetime TV and mixed artial arts fights. Seeing these fights it's hard not to assume certain things about these men, that they're unfeeling, uncaring, probably a little mysoginistic, and most likely have some serious issues. I was completely unprepared for the reality.

A lot of these men have had very difficult lives and often have nowhere else to go. Kimbo was living in his car, trying to figure out how to support several children without resorting to robbing people when he became a bodyguard and someone offered him $5000 to fight a guy who was kind of a neighborhood bully. Others, as their stories unfold on the show, are in similar situations--not really trained for anything, were always good at wrestling or boxing, etc.--and they view this as a chance to move up. Here's the 2 things that really stood out.

I can't ever imagine enjoying fighting someone, brutally inflicting pain, so I wondered if they really liked it. It turns out they do! They truly view it as a sport, like baseball or soccer. As I learned more about the fighting styles they bring to each match I was kind of amazed at how complex it is (and how simple it might look, paradoxically). American wrestling approaches the human body very differently from jiu jitsu. Muay Thai kickboxing uses the body very differently from traditional boxing. But all these styles would come together and for the aficionado it can be very interesting to see how each fighter uses their own strengths against their opponent. I imagine there must also be some kind of adrenaline rush involved, as well as some emotional release. This last element is true for some, not all. They're not all angry men who've found a socially sanctioned way to release their anger and pain. Many of them just truly enjoy.

And second, these men, who must seriously have sky high levels of testosterone, are the most affectionate and tender American men I've ever seen. As the show wore on friends would be put in the ring (an eight sided ring with chain link fencing around the outside instead of ropes) with friends. They all showed the utmost respect to each other in the ring and after it was over, even if they didn't exactly like each other in the ring, they would hug each other, impart an encouraging/nurturing word, or otherwise show some sign of respect. And here's the thing that really shocked me--in the fight that decided who would go to the finals, the two men were good friends and they had a really brutal match. During each fight the other fighters would cheer on one of the fighters or hoot and howl, but this match was so intense that they were all quiet because they couldn't believe how they were going at each other. At the end of the match the winner gave the loser a kiss on his cheek! And then, on the live finale this past weekend, there was another match with two guys, who were really talking smack about each other before the fight, and the loser (who'd also knocked someone out by slamming him on the ground in a previous fight) gave the winner a kiss on his cheek too! I can't remember the last time I've seen two men show such tenderness towards each other, particularly after fighting each other.

I guess I say all this to say that when we talk about men and how they act, or any such large category of people, it's impossible to generalize. Or, in this case, you might have your a*# handed to you. jk.

Suzanne and I went to see this movie for my birthday and lo-hoved it. Because: 1) the visuals are stunning. Filmed in 28 countries over 4 years, there's places that I didn't know could look like that on earth. 2) The dialog with the little girl was largely improvised. Some reviews see this as a fault. We, on the other hand, felt like someone filmed us having a dialog with Amia. It was awesome to hear a child's voice expressed so authentically in a film. 3) Love, truth, and children can offer us salvation. True in the film, true in life.

Last weekend I was working at the Baha'i National Convention, held in Wilmette. NPR was there and I didn't even know it! The story, about Baha'i elections, is one of the best synopses of both the Baha'i election process and Baha'i belief that I've ever heard!

I'll start with the bad news. My scooter, aka 'The Red Devil', 'El Poderoso', and 'Jake', was stolen from in front of our house about 2 weeks ago. It was there late one night as we arrived home from a friend's house and wasn't there the next morning. I called the po-po and filled out a report, called insurance, and have since been taking the train. The cops think it's probly been chopped up for parts. Hmph. Here's the weird thing- I don't really care.

Intellectually it stings a little because it's finally warm and I just made it through my THIRD winter on that thing, freezing just about anything that freezes. Also, it was pretty much our second car, so that's pretty inconvenient. But here's where the not-caring comes in. One, the week before I had started to really feel not safe on it. Like something was going to happen to me on it. All it takes is one person, particularly in an SUV, not paying attention for a second and I could be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. So I feel like maybe I dodged a bullet in that sense. Also, I'd just started reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I'd just finished the part in the book where he talks about how our ego tries to stabilize itself by attaching itself to material things. Once I became aware of that process, which felt totally true, I became much more able to not do that. When I looked out the window and saw that it was gone it helped to not feel like a part of me had been taken, which is how the ego typically responds. When I tell people I feel like I should be more outraged or hurt or something, which feels like the social script for something like this, but I don't. More than anything it's just inconvenience.

So in the next week or two I should be getting an insurance check which should be enough to get a new bike or two that the three of us can bike around the lake on. And I'll probably get a train pass. Not that I'm a fan of public transit. Like many people I imagine I think it's good for a lot of reasons, mostly environmental, but it's not something I really like doing. I liked having that time in between home and work all to myself, thinking my own thoughts and singing my songs in the safety of my helmet. Maybe one day I'll ride a scooter again, but probly not for a while.

I should probly also apologize to the person slated to receive my scooter that's named in my will. Will a nice bike do?

Iran is the birthplace of the Baha'i Faith, has one of the largest Baha'i communities in the world (largest religious minority in Iran, actually), and is home to the most severe persecution of Baha'is. In the past couple months there has been a lot of distressing news coming from Iran. Persecution of the Baha'i community in Iran dates to the earliest days, literally, of the religion and has been punctuated by periodic tides of hatred and malice, all of which has taken on a more systematic tone ever since the discovery by UN officials of a blueprint, signed by the highest authorities in Iran, for the extermination of the Baha'i community. Denial of services, including education, layoffs, harassment, desecration of cemeteries, and indiscriminate jailings have all become routine. In recent months human rights groups have been reporting that Baha'i school children are being subjected to ridicule and harassment, even by teachers and administrators(!), and are made to sit silently while lies and distortions about the Baha'i Faith are taught. And last week things intensified when it came to light that the individuals serving on the informal administrative body for the national community (informal because formal Baha'i administrative bodies are outlawed in Iran) had their homes searched and were imprisoned, solely because of their beliefs. The last time this happened, twice in the early '80s, all the members were disappeared and never heard from again. The Baha'i world is doing all it can to make the situation known. A recent House Resolution condemning these actions is gathering more sponsors (including our Representative!), and media are increasingly shining a spotlight on these despicable actions.

We just came out with a new issue of FUNDamentals! This issue is all about the spiritual and financial elements of marriage and family life.We got some really interesting folks to write articles about how they navigate these potentially/often tricky waters. I also got to submit an article about how the way one approaches marriage and family life can create positive change in the world. Hope you like it!

P.S. I keep meaning to blog but I've been so worn out at night by the time I'm finally free. Shoot!

Despite the previous post, I've completely lost any taste I had for anything McDonald's, and I think it was singlehandedly accomplished by this video (one of the extras from the Super Size Me! DVD). WARNING: STOP NOW IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE EATING MCDONALDS FRIES.

The other day Suzanne, Amia and I were in Wheaton, which is pretty much where I grew up. There is one place there that is standing like this sweet, tasty beacon of independence and goodness. It's called the Popcorn Store. I've been going there SINCE I WAS 8. Yeah. 24 years. They even used to have my picture on the wall. The Popcorn Store is basically an alley with a roof on it. The address ends in 1/4. Inside the walls are all brick and on one side is a row of candy of all kinds. You walk in, get yourself a little white paper sack, and go to town. You can choose from all kinds of gummy candy (worms, root beer bottles, feet), Charleston Chews (big and little), Junior Mints, red hots, M&Ms, Blow Pops, candy necklaces...okay, I think I have a cavity. They also have popcorn but I know of no self-respecting child that ever went in there to get popcorn. That was for adults. So you fill up your sack and take it to the counter where the candy is all counted by hand and priced in the minds of the employees with a little chart for tax. No registers or anything. Then you squeeze out the door past all the other kids in line and walk slowly through town getting a sugar buzz, ensuring that the dentist gets a new car, and comparing candy, sometimes trading. In a word, a visit to the Popcorn Store was/is bliss.

Amia and I went there the other day to get some candies and I snapped a picture (it's the one with the red door).

Up until recently I actually had my picture up on the wall although you couldn't see my face. Two of my friends and I walked there in sub-zero temperatures in January when I was about 9. We were the only ones in the store and there was a newspaper photographer taking pictures. One of the funny things about the picture was that you could see me stretching to reach the top row of candy jars which is now about head level for me. As I went there today I was thinking that now with the house I grew up in torn down and laying underneath a behemoth McMansion this is my strongest geographical link to my childhood, and how sweet would that be to be able to take my grandkids there some day. And give them cavities.